2514 



PEAR 



PEAR 



American growers rarely ripen their fruit before mar- 

 keting it. This, if done at all, is more generally accom- 

 plished by the dealer, doubtless with decided profit, 

 since in the larger cities fully $50 have been known to be 

 paid for a single barrel of selected fruit, and yet the 

 same fruit ripened and offered in quantities to suit cus- 

 tomers has been sold at two or three times the original 

 cost. The marketing of unripened pears is obviously 

 unprofitable so far as the producer is concerned. 



In Europe, the choicest fruits are carefully selected 

 and house-ripened. When approaching their best con- 

 dition the fruits are separately wrapped in soft paper, 

 and are then put up in packages of perhaps one or 

 two dozens, and sent so as to appear upon the market 

 when in the best possible condition. Such fruits com- 

 mand prices quite in excess of what they would have 

 realized had they been offered in an immature condition. 



Varieties. 



Since the popular and desirable varieties of pears 

 may be found fully described in standard pomological 

 works, such descriptions here are not deemed necessary. 

 Among the very numerous varieties of pears described 

 in such works there are doubtless many possessing high 

 quality and other valuable characteristics, which, for 

 some unexplained reason, have failed to attract the 

 attention of growers. 



Since varieties vary in their season of ripening with 

 change of latitude, and often, to some extent, with 

 change of location, even in the same latitude, the desig- 

 nation of such season becomes a matter of more or less 

 difficulty. In the following lists the season given will be 

 approximately that between parallels 42 and 43 of 

 north latitude. 



(a) Amateur pears: It is as true of the pear as of 

 most other species of fruits that very many varieties 

 are of small size, unattractive appearance, or of such 

 delicate texture when ripe as to disqualify them for the 

 market, although they may possess, in an eminent 

 degree, the peculiar characteristics which render them 

 desirable, and to persons of cultivated taste, indis- 

 pensable for the supply of the family. Such are termed 

 amateur pears. 



The following is a list of a few of the most popular of 

 these, arranged approximately in the order of maturity: 



Name. Season.* 



Madeleine , m. e. July 



Summer Doyenne e. July. 



Bloodgood e. July. m. Aug. 



Giffard m. Aug 



Dearborn m. e. Aug. 



Rostiezer m. Aug. m. Sept. 



Elizabeth e. Aug. 



Brandywine e. Aug. b. Sept. 



Tyson e. Aug. b. Sept. . 



Stevens (Genesee) b. Sept 



Clapp b. m. Sept 



Washington m. Sept. 



(Belle) Lucrative m. e. Sept. 



Bosc e. Sept. Oct. 



White Doyenne e. Sept. Nov 



Seckel Oct. 



Sarah Oct. 



Anjou Oct. Nov. 



Gray Doyenne m. Oct. Nov. 



Reeder Nov 



Remarks. 

 Earliest good pear. 



Excellent, but very per- 

 [ishable. 



A tardy bearer. 

 Rots soon at the core. 

 Rots soon at the core. 



Liable to crack badly. 



Heyst (Emile d'Heyst) . Nov 



Mount Vernon Nov 



Dana Hovey Nov 



Dec. 

 Dec. 

 Jan. 



Langelier Nov Feb. 



Germain Nov March. 



Lawrence Dec. 



Winter Nelis Dec. Jan. 



Easter Jan. March. 



*e, early; m, middle; b, beginning. 



(b) Culinary pears: Very few dessert pears are found 

 to be satisfactory for culinary uses, since they too gen- 

 erally lose at least a portion of their flavor and aroma 

 in the process of cooking. There are, however, several 

 varieties of high, austere character which prove adapted 

 to this purpose, among which are the following: 



Name. Season. 



Vicar Nov. Jan 



(Black) Worcester Nov. Feb. 



Catillac Nov. March. 



Pound Dec. Feb. 



Remarks. 

 .Occasionally good 



[enough for dessert. 



(c) Market pears: The markets demand varieties of 

 attractive appearance, of at least medium size and of 

 fine texture. To the grower, productiveness and vigor 

 of tree are also of primary importance. If possessing 



2818. Packing pears in boxes. 



the foregoing characteristics, a variety may prove at 

 least temporarily popular, even though of compara- 

 tively low quality. The following varieties, some of 

 which may also be found in the amateur list, are all 

 more or less popular as market fruits: 



Name. 

 Tyson 



Season. 

 e. Aug. b. Sept. 



Remarks. 



tardy 



Sterling e. Aug. m. Sept 



Clapp b. m. Sept 



Bartlett b. e. Sept 



(Souvenir du) Congress. b. e. Sept 



Buffum m. Sept 



Howell m. Sept. Oct. 



Flemish (Beauty) m. e. Sept 



Bosc e. Sept. Oct 



Boussock e. Sept. Oct. 



Louis Bonne e. Sept. Oct. . . . 



Onondaga e. Sept. Nov. 



Superfin Oct. 



Sheldon Oct 



Rutter Oct. Nov. 



Anjou Oct. Nov. 



Kieffer. Oct. Nov 



LeConte Oct. Nov 



Angouleme Oct. Nov. 



Die) Oct. Dec 



Clairgeau Oct. Jan. 



Columbia Nov. Jan. 



McLaughlin Nov. Jan. 



Lawrence Dec. 



Malines Jan. Feb. 



..Excellent, but 



bearer. 

 .Productive, and exceed- 



ingly beautiful. 

 . Rots soon at the core. 

 . Leading market pear. 

 .Sometimes very large. 

 . Variable in quality. 



. Rots soon at the core. 

 . .Excellent for all pur- 



[poses. 

 .Grown only as a dwarf. 



.Is russeted and dull in 

 (color. 



Not valuable north of 43. 

 .Succeeds best at the 



extreme South. 

 .Grown only on quince 

 [stocks. 



Relative desirableness of dwarfs. 



There are a few varieties, among which Louise Bonne 

 and Angouleme may be especially mentioned, which on 

 free (pear) stocks are either tardy bearers or require 

 to be fruited several years before developing their 

 ultimate qualities, but which succeed unusually well 

 upon the quince. These, especially the Angouleme, are 

 valued as market varieties when grown as dwarfs. 



Angouleme, and perhaps some other varieties as 

 dwarfs, occasionally bloom so profusely as apparently 

 to prove unable to develop the fruit, which in conse- 

 quence proves abortive. The natural and obvious rem- 

 edy in such case is disbudding, or its equivalent, cut- 

 ting back the fruit-bearing shoots before growth is 

 commenced. 



The fact that very many varieties are not perma- 

 nently successful when grown upon the quince is 

 doubtless partially, if not in many cases even wholly, 



